Quickly gaining notice as a young conductor to watch, Bulgarian Danail Rachev joins the Philadelphia Orchestra as assistant conductor in the 2008-09 season. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Rachev served as assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, where he led classical, family, pops, parks, and education concerts. Of his last "Casual Classics" concerts with the DSO, The Dallas Morning News wrote: "If there's anything fair in life, Danail Rachev should be on his way to becoming a star orchestral conductor..." Last season, Mr. Rachev also led concerts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, City Music Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, and Camerata Winds, of which he is also artistic director. In the 2008-09 season, Rachev debuts with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Eugene Symphony, and Eastern Connecticut Symphony.

Previously, Mr. Rachev was the first ever conducting fellow of the New World Symphony, conductor of the Juilliard PreCollege Symphony, and cover conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Rachev has also led several opera productions with companies including Baltimore's Opera Vivente and the Russe State Opera in his native Bulgaria, in addition to serving as assistant conductor for the Baltimore Opera Company. Rachev was an academy conductor for the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and a participant in the League of American Orchestra's National Conducting Institute, which led to his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Rachev has degrees in orchestral and choral conducting from the State Musical Academy of Bulgaria and a Master of Music from Peabody Conservatory in orchestral conducting. His conducting teachers have included Gustav Meier, Michael Tilson Thomas, Vassil Kazandjiev, David Zinman, and Leonard Slatkin.